* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Tonight (Thursday night) we will do bedikat chametz—the search for chametz– taking our journey from slavery to freedom to the next level.
After all the clearing and preparations, we will wrap up ten pieces of chametz and hide them throughout our home, and then take a candle and feather and search for the chametz by the light of the candle. We will use
the feather to gather these pieces, along with any other chametz we may find along the way, and put it all aside until tomorrow (Friday morning) when we will burn it.
This is the bracha we recite before bedikat chametz:
“Blessed are you Lord, our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and has commanded us concerning the removal of chametz.”
What is chametz? First, there is the physical chametz–any food derived from the five grains that has undergone a leavening process, such as, bread, pita, cookies, pizza, bourekas, etc. We gather all this food in one place, and tomorrow morning we remove it from our home and burn it.
Chametz also symbolizes all that is evil in this world and needs to be destroyed. To our great sorrow, we are still contending with utterly evil
enemies who must be thoroughly eradicated.
Finally, our Sages focus on the spiritual chametz that exists within each one of us: our negative traits, confusion, frustration, envy, desire and despair, any force that distances us from the true version of ourselves. This is your opportunity to think about any internal chametz you wish to eliminate from your life.
May we succeed in removing all aspects of chametz from ourselves and our world.
